Cooper T51

Details

F2-23-59 started life in 1959 as a “works” car for the Cooper Grand Prix team. The car was used by Bruce McLaren throughout the year. The Cooper team won the World Constructors championship and McLaren in his ﬁrst full season took his maiden Grand Prix victory at Sebring in the US Grand Prix.
For the 1960 season the T51 was replaced by the “low¬‐line” T53 thus making F2‐23‐59 redundant for “works” use. The car was sold to Fred Tuck & Horace Gould. Tuck privately entered the car into numerous Grand Prix in 1960 with various drivers taking the wheel including Roy Salvadori and Lucien Bianchi. Bianchi scored a best result of 6th place finish in the Monaco Grand Prix.
When in 1961 the regulations for Formula 1 changed he car was fitted with a 1.5litre Coventry Climax engine and little is known about the races it did. At the end of the season American Frank Dochnal bought the car and shipped it to the States where he won first time out at a race at the Riverside speedway. Dochnal continued to use the car and even entered the 1963 Mexican Grand Prix where he failed to start due to a practice accident.
National racer Ed Mackey purchased the car from Dochnal and campaigned the car nationwide. His relentless determination and the Cooper’s amazing reliability won him the 1966 SCCA Southern Pacific Division Formula A championship.
After another ownership change Steve Froines purchased the car in early 70’s. He restored the car to the correct specification and reunited her with the correct 2.5litre engine and ERSA gearbox. After over thirty years of ownership he sold the car to well known historic racer Murray Smith in 2006
The current owner purchased the car in 2008 and with preparation from Neil Twyman’s team they achieved fantastic results in HGPCA events in the past four years with Roger Wills driving including an outright win at the 2012 Monaco Historique.
The car is referred to and documented in Doug Nye’s Cooper Cars book.